Unexpected Redemption
by coolnamegoeshere
Summary: After suffering what seemed to be an eternity, a shayde trapped in the Underwhere finally has a chance to redeem his actions, but he gets plenty more than expected.  SPM, oneshot, AU, some spoilers, still a rookie


I remember that day... when Jaydes finally let me redeem what I had done during my game: all the heartless whacking of the whackas for their bumps throughout the world... I, or at least my greed, had been responsible for at least 10% of their population within one year before some sort of military finally managed to catch up with me. Many years after that 'whacking incident' I was literally trapped within Underwhere before that already mentioned time the Queen gave me a chance.

Little did I know it was a mere escort duty.

I had to, along with Mario and Luigi who I didn't know at that time, take the Queen's daughter, Luvbi, all the way Overthere. It would've been long and boring if it wasn't for her preppy optimism... oh, and the hideously annoying monsters we had to face. Yeah, it was still boring since they were all easy for Mario, but one of them knew him and decided to help (which was a rare occurrence) and at least the Dorguy trio let us use our heads when we saw them. Anyway, I made a rather lame sarcastic complaint about the light when we were on the path Overthere and we continued after me and Luvbi had an annoying argument about my whining, finding and recovering princess... Pinch I think her name was, along the way. After finding, and fixing, a big problem Overthere, we all eventually headed to the main castle where Luvbi's dad was and found a very mean ice dragon who wanted to take the pure heart that actually was Luvbi all along. It would've actually gotten away with her if I didn't bite off part of its leg during the fight. Yes, I actually tore off part of the leg with my mouth. I didn't have anything else... well, it didn't finish it off, obviously, but it 'distracted' it long enough (and dropped Luvbi, who I saved from a high fall) for Luigi to drill right into its head with a massive jump. I slipped back outside during the (more or less) heartfelt conversation following the end and climbed up on the roof to think about the recent events, more specifically, my reaction to her optimism and the fruitless argument a while back. No doubt everyone was annoyed in some way with what the pixl called her mood swings, but I seemed to tolerate it better. I never knew why at that time, or even why I admired her fluent accent, but it nevertheless made me curious. Eventually, when I started to regret my argument, Luigi jumped on the roof and told me that Grambi wanted to see me.

"Hey, come back inside, "Luigi said to me, "King Grambi wanted to see you. Oh, and Queen Jaydes too."

"Ah, crap. Did Luvbi tell them how big a jerk I was earlier?"

"Actually, no. They wanted to thank you for-a saving their da- the pure heart."

"Nonsense, Luigi. _You're_ the one who smacked that dragon to Underwhere so you're the one they should be showering you in gifts or whatever."

"That's already taken care of, but now someone wants to thank you personally."

"Why would they want to-"

"Just go back inside and see for yourself."

"...Ugh, fine. Better not be some formal ceremony or something; I always hated those." So that's when I climbed back down and went back inside, but the palace was completely empty. No one was there at all. I wandered around for a bit and then I heard a familiar voice, but I couldn't quite figure it out who it was since it seemed... different somehow.

"Ah, you're here. Good."

"Err... huh? Queen Jaydes?" I turned around, thinking it was Queen Jaydes, but instead saw Luvbi. The fact that the two of us were alone, coupled by another fact that she was actually _twice_ as cute as she claimed, almost gave me a heart attack I was in such shock, but why she wanted a one-on-one conversation, I didn't know. "L...Luvbi? What happened with your... accent?"

"Dost thou speak of this?" she asked as she faintly smiled, "I thought you might be confused if I used my native tongue, so, verily, I'm trying to speak in yours instead."

"That's definitely new. You're doing much better than when I tried to use all those fancy words. I felt like I was two years old again!" Instead of scoffing at me like she did last time, she actually _giggled_ at me, of all the things she could've done. That pixl was definitely right when she thought Luvbi had mood swings, but that was getting ridiculous.

"I thought I heard someone back at the river in Underwhere..."

"Course I'm sure you thought I was just a complete idiot back there... hey, wait a minute, how come you're acting so nice to me now? Back at-"

"Because my... so-called 'parents' are making me learn some manners... and they're starting by making me apologize."

"All right, all right, you know what? How 'bout we forget that all happened and start fresh instead? I'm pretty sure that you got nothin' over what I did during my game... and no, you _don't_ want to know." What she said next I never would've expected, especially since I thought she didn't know what I had done

"Already do: nine and two-thirds of the whacka population succumbed to your greed of their world-renowned bumps in addition to resisting and assaulting authority figures. Consider your possible redemption a miracle."

"Already did, and I even thought I was losing my mind since I was stuck down there for so long. I'm sure this little escort duty can't possibly be all I have to do, right?"

"Not even close. Mo- _Jaydes_ will tell you what to do next, when everyone comes back." That reminded me about how empty this place was.

"Speakin' o' which, where is everyone? Fixing up the damage?"

"That's exactly what they're doing, even the four heroes and my... parents." That makes sense, but I wasn't sure that should be what the heroes needed to do, since that big hole in the sky didn't get smaller.

"Well, can you tell me where they are so I can get my next task then?"

"They're at the Rainbow Bridge so it's not very far."

"Good, that way I-"

"Ah, ah, not so fast. Since I need to return there as well, and that my 'parents' are so protective of me..." Her smile that immediately followed... it did something to me, but I couldn't figure it out, which made her smile wider. "I'll need an escort. Any volunteers?"

"...Alright, since no one else wants to, I'll do it. Better get your confusing accent back on. Actually, one question: how'd you get to learn to speak the... 'common tongue' or whatever? Was it the time you spent with the Queen in Underwhere?"

"Yes, it actually was." After being her victim of humiliation for a few more minutes, and Luvbi transformed into a pure heart, we trekked over to the bridge where Jaydes told me I had to help the heroes save the world. We managed to do that eventually, since it definitely wasn't easy.

Now, the four heroes have long since disappeared, and I'm back at Underwhere, asking Queen Jaydes to go back to Flopside.

"Why do you need to go back there? The world is saved and the four heroes aren't here anymore, you know that."

"It's not that; I just want to bring Luvbi back... even when she's stuck up and downright rude sometimes, I can't help but miss her. We both do, I'm sure."

""Grambi, too. Would you want some time alone afterward?"

"Yeah, that'd be- good, thanks. That reminds me though... when the two of us were alone in the Overthere palace, she acted a lot more respectful to me that she never showed to anyone else. I kinda thought at first that she managed to learn manners, but it seemed too sudden to be... how do I want to put this..."

"It seems that she's changed her attitude very much since she apologized about that 'argument' you told me of earlier. Maybe you could have caused that?"

"Maybe... but I'd like to talk to her to be sure." Jaydes was about to send me over to Flopside, but she had a thought.

"Did you notice anything that changed with Luvbi?"

"Well, she took quite a pleasure joking about me, but that's all I know."

"Just you? That's interesting... You will have to meet me back Overthere with Grambi, though, _and_... I'm afraid you'll have to find your own way back." Next thing I knew, I was right at the heart pillar where I alone put Luvbi in the slot. I carefully removed the pure heart, which took a while, but when I turned to re-enter the Underwhere, half expecting a portal of some kind, there was nothing. I had to walk _all_ the way back to Flipside, up the tower, and back Overthere the old fashioned way: with my own two legs. She wasn't kidding when I had to find my way back, and after I finally made it inside the palace, I simply gave them the pure heart, told them I was going to be on the roof so I had a nice view to look at (which was true, but actually my feet were killing me) then actually went on the roof and lied there for a while when someone found me and must have thought I was hurt. I didn't look at the person though, since I thought Luvbi wouldn't be back real fast.

"Are... are you ok?" Had to be a visitor or something, because there wasn't that confusing accent of the native nimbis, yet it did sound familiar...

"Yeah, it's just my legs; they're screamin' at me."

"...What did you do to them?"

"Nothing serious, I just wore them out by walking a _very_ long distance and I'm only just now starting to regret it. They'll calm down eventually."

"Oh... well, do you mind if I talked to you for a while?"

"Nah, go ahead, I got plenty of time, though once my feet quit crying I expect to be sent back down Underwhere because of something very bad I did back in my game."

"Was it bad enough to keep you there... forever?"

"Short answer: yeah, it was. Bad enough to make me regret it, too, and no, I'm _not_ gonna tell you what I did; you wouldn't want to know anyway."

"...You're probably right." There was an interesting silence that followed.

"Hey, do you know of someone named Luvbi?"

"Yeah, she's the daughter of King Grambi and Queen Jaydes, why?"

"The king got pretty worried when she didn't come back from visiting the queen, so when Luvbi was found in Underwhere, Queen Jaydes pretty much told me to take her back to the king so he could keep her safe."

"I remember that, but that was when there was a black hole in the sky. You're not saying she went missing again, are you?"

"No, no, King Grambi just wanted to see me, but I still had to walk here all by myself, which is exactly why my legs hurt so bad. Probably still part of a punishment for that incident back in my game."

"Well, whatever it was, I think you deserved it."

"Oh yeah, definitely... I haven't seen Luvbi in a while, though, and I can't help but miss her optimistic energy... reminds me of my early days, long before I had that incident."

"Do you think she might miss you, even a little?"

"Oh, please, that's like asking Luigi to clear out a mansion full o' ghosts. No matter how much I helped her, I won't believe that she'd miss some low-life like me one bit."

"Well, that's funny, because I heard a wild rumor that she's actually quite concerned about you and she started looking for you."

"Yeah, that's a wild rumor alright. There's no _way_ that-" That's when the unbelievable happened. A nimbi girl suddenly landed on me, pressed her lips on mine and wrapped her butterfly wings as tight as she could around my head like she was desperately trying to prevent me from pulling away... but all I did was just lay there in absolute shock. When she finally let me go, I finally caught sight of who it was, and I _immediately_ hugged her.

It was Luvbi... the one girl that I honestly never expected to see again, yet couldn't help but fall in love with.

Tears started running down my face as she helped me sit up and put one wing around my back, her forehead on mine, and the other wing to wipe away the tears.

"Yea," she said softly to me, "Tis I, my precious shayde, who hath saved mine life but twice."

"Hey, I'm just glad you're still around... even if you might've ended up the same, uppity brat when we first met." She smiles at me as she put the other wing around my back. We had to admit it was true. Even if she would have ignored every request, plea, and beg from me to stop, nothing would beat the fact that she's still alive.

"As am I... verily." We tighten our hold as we briefly, yet passionately, touched lips, then rested our heads on each other's shoulder, enjoying the first of hopefully innumerable days together.


End file.
